The Observatory is a publication, variously described as a journal, a magazine and a review, devoted to astronomy. It has appeared regularly since 1877, and is currently published every two months.

Although it is not published by the Royal Astronomical Society, it publishes the reports of their meetings and is available at a reduced rate to their fellows. Other features are the extensive book reviews and Here and There, a collection of misprints and ridiculous statements of astronomical interest. The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research (mainly carried on at the time by gentleman astronomers rather than professionals). ...

The founder and first editor (1877-82) was William Christie, then Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory and later Astronomer Royal. Notable subsequent editors include: Royal Observatory, Greenwich one of the hyper-accurate chronometers at the observatory. ... Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ...

• Sir Arthur Eddington (1913-9)
• Sir Harold Spencer Jones (1915-23)
• Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley (1933-9)
• Sir William McCrea (1935-7)
• Margaret Burbidge (1948-51)
• Anthony Hewish (1957-61)
• Donald Lynden-Bell (1967-9)
• Dame Carole Jordan 1968-73
• Jocelyn Bell 1973-6

One of Sir Arthur Stanley Eddingtons papers announced Einsteins theory of general relativity to the English-speaking world. ... Sir Harold Spencer Jones (March 29, 1890 – November 3, 1960) was a British astronomer. ... Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley (April 24, 1906 – December 24, 1986) was a British astronomer. ... Sir William Hunter McCrea (13 December 1904 – April 25, 1999) was an astronomer and mathematician. ... Margaret Burbidge (nee Eleanor Margaret Peachey) (born August 12, 1919) is a British astrophysicist, noted for original research and holding many administrative posts, including director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. ... Antony Hewish (born Fowey, Cornwall, May 11, 1924) is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his role in the discovery of pulsars. ... Donald Lynden-Bell (born Dover, England April 5, 1935 – ) is a British astrophysicist, best known for his theories that galaxies contain massive black holes at their centre, and that such black holes are the principal source of energy in quasars. ... Dame Carole Jordan DBE (born 19 July 1941) was the first ever female president of the Royal Astronomical Society. ... Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born Jocelyn Bell, 15 July 1943), British astrophysicist who discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis advisor Antony Hewish. ...

External link

• Official web site